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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


HOLY THURSDAY, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: IS THIS A HOLY THING TO SEE
Last Line: NOR POVERTY THE MIND APPALL.
Subject(s): ASCENSION DAY; BIBLE; HOLIDAYS; MYTHOLOGY; POVERTY;

Is this a holy thing to see,
In a rich and fruitful land,
Babes reduced to misery,
Fed with cold and usurous hand?

Is that trembling cry a song?
Can it be a song of joy?
And so many children poor?
It is a land of poverty!

And their sun does never shine,
And their fields and bleak & bare,
And their ways are fill'd with thorns;
It is eternal winter there.

For where-e'er the sun does shine,
And where-e'er the rain does fall,
Babe can never hunger there,
Nor poverty the mind appall.



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